In a traditional Marxist sense, classes refer to the groups of owners
of means of production on the one hand side and owners of the own
workforce on the other.
Due to postfordist and neoliberal
developments, which foster multiple social and economic inequalities,
today social classes are determined largely by occupation,
Education
and qualifications, income (personal, household and per capita), wealth
or net worth (including the ownership of land, property, means of
production etc.). Classes with more power usually subordinate classes
with less power, while attempting to cement their own power positions
in society. Social classes with a great deal of power are usually
viewed as elites, at least within their own societies.
There are
many ways in which race,
Gender,
Class and sexual orientation are
combined to determine a person's fate and economic status. Even class
can have different meanings, for example in urban or rural areas; it
matters different for different people.